Fires burning across Oregon (Still!)

When 61% of the poll repliers still think logging is bad I don't have much hope for Oregon. It's been smokey in Reno for the past month and a half. I wish the jetstream would carry the stink to Salem and let the legislators smell it for a while.

Can't do much, but I'll pray for rain for them. We've sure had plenty down here lately.

There used to be a tv slogan that "Oregon will never run out of forests." At the rate they are burning, they just might.

Someone observed, with all the forests that burned, it was amazing that the building damage was so minimal. That is the point, there are hundreds of miles of empty forest in the West. Easterners and urbanites have been lied to that we have only a handfull of trees left and the rest have been raped and pillaged.

WELL SAID !!! I guess people are so used to being lied to that they have started to take it for the truth.

Bumper sticker = BULLETIN BOARD!!!! Click here"

EBUCK

Environmental Groups Use Smokescreen to Dodge Responsibility for Wildfires

DATE: August 22, 2002

BACKGROUND: As President Bush travels to Oregon for a major address on wildfires to be delivered on this date, the Wilderness Society and other environmental groups are distorting the truth to escape responsibility for policies that have exacerbated the wildfires.

"Severe drought has caused an above average number of fires," the Wilderness Society told United Press International. "As the blame game continues the U.S. Forest Service clearly must improve its performance if it is to achieve the goal of the National Fire Plan -- prioritizing our limited resources to protect lives and homes."

As of August 21, there have been 59,171 fires this year versus a 10-year average of 60,966. However, the number of acres burned is more than double: 6,005,751 this year versus a 10-year average of 2,838,685.

TEN SECOND RESPONSE: We've had droughts in the past without monster wildfires. The difference now is the dramatic increase in fuel caused by a 90 percent reduction in logging over the last decade.

THIRTY SECOND RESPONSE: Wildfires burn more acreage today because the overabundance of fuel in our forests makes them too hot and fast-moving to control. This is the direct result of the near elimination of sensible logging and thinning practices due to protests, challenges, even lawsuits by environmental organizations. The more radical of their allies, such as the Earth Liberation Front, even resort to terrorist acts to halt logging and thinning projects.

DISCUSSION: In addition to heavy fuel loads, firefighting efforts are made more difficult by a lack of roads. Numerous fire reports by the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho end with cryptic statements such as, "difficult and inaccessible terrain is impeding containment efforts."

Yet, the same extreme environmental groups that claim to bear no responsibility for today's monster fires worked behind closed doors during the Clinton administration to institute the "Roadless Rule" which prohibits road building in 58.5 million acres of our nation's forests. Even while denying responsibility for the dangerous state of our forests, these groups are fighting the Bush administration's attempts to modify this rule as well as efforts to reinstate sound forest management practices.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Track the current wildfire situation at the National Interagency Fire Center at http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfn.html.

For more information on preventing and fighting wildfires, visit the National Center's Forest Policy Information Center at: http://www.nationalcenter.org/Forest.html. Get specific information on the relationship between poor forest management and wildfires from Dr. Tom Bonnicksen's National Policy Analysis #424, Tree-Huggers or Fire-Huggers?: The Environmental Movement's Confused Forest Policy at: http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA424.html.

by Tom Randall, Director
John P. McGovern, MD Center for Environmental and Regulatory Affairs
The National Center for Public Policy Research

Contact the author at: (773) 857-5086 or tranndall@nationalcenter.org
The National Center for Public Policy Research, Chicago office
3712 North Broadway - PMB 279
Chicago, IL 60613

It isn't trees or animals or birds the enviro whackos love -- it's capitalism and private property that they HATE!

From KGW.com

Biscuit Fire Grows to Largest in U.S.

08/23/2002

Associated Press

Crews on the western flank of the massive Biscuit fire have only eight more miles of fireline to prepare before they connect it with the containment line from the south section of the blaze, officials said Friday.

"We're looking forward to that golden spike when we meet the fireline from Zone 3," said Susan Mathison, a fire spokeswoman.

Burnouts, or planned fires meant to starve the main blaze of its fuel, went well Thursday and mop-up crews working overnight had little work to do, she said.

President Bush talks with fire fighters David Goodnough, left and Jerald Hanson, right, during a tour of the areas damaged by Squires Fire Thursday. (AP Photo)

"Mop-up crews had a great night last night. We love it when they can't find anything to mop up," Mathison said.

The Biscuit fire in southern Oregon had burned 492,342 acres by Friday, surpassing the number of acres burned by a fire in Arizona to become the largest wildfire in the nation this year.

"That's a powerful fire," declared President Bush, who flew over the blaze Thursday morning during his visit in Oregon.

Officials said the Biscuit fire was 65 percent contained and that they were confident it would not jump its northern, eastern or southern boundaries. This week, they have dispatched firefighters and equipment from those areas to the blaze's untamed western flank, where helicopters continued dropping flammable pingpong balls Thursday to burn out forest as a barrier against the wildfire's advance.

President Bush views fire site during a tour of the areas damaged by Squires Fire Thursday. (AP Photo)

Officials had estimated on Wednesday that they needed to build 33 more miles of fire line to complete the 206-mile perimeter of the Biscuit fire. But they determined on Thursday that the number remained closer to 39 miles, said Miera Crawford, a fire information officer stationed near Brookings.

Firefighters have made such progress on the Biscuit fire and other serious wildfires in Oregon and Washington in recent days that officials canceled plans to call up about 700 soldiers from Fort Bragg, N.C., to help control them, said Doug Huntington, an information officer at the Pacific Northwest Multi-Agency Coordinating Group in Portland.

"In the last couple of days, the weather has really cooperated on the fires," Huntington said. "Several of the fires are now 100 percent contained, and several are over 50 percent contained. . . . So we no longer felt the need to have the military contribute to the firefighting effort."

The weather was expected to turn drier and hotter over the weekend, however, said Mathison.

The Biscuit fire started with a lightning strike July 13. Since then, the fire has roared through vast portions of the Siskiyou National Forest and almost all of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area in southwestern Oregon.

The Biscuit fire, which is expected to burn into autumn, heads the list of eight serious blazes now burning on public lands in Oregon and Washington, said Joe Walsh at the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center in Portland.

Oregon Fires

Major wildfires were burning on about 565,362 acres in Oregon on Friday. About 8,944 firefighters were fighting five major fires around the state. The Northwest Interagency Communication Center is tracking five major fires in Oregon.

Top priorities for fire officials Monday were the Biscuit fire, covering 492,342 acres, the 7,400-acre Apple fire and the 62,200-acre Tiller Complex.

BISCUIT FIRE (formerly called Florence Fire; name changed on 8/11/02)

Started: Florence fire started 26 miles west of Grant Pass, 07/13/02; Sour Biscuit started 17 miles southwest of Cave Junction.

Size: 492,342 acres.

Containment: 65 percent.

Evacuations: Illinois Valley is no longer under an evacuation notice, 8/16/02. Agness, on northwest corner of the fire, is on 24-hour evacuation notice. Evacuation notice lifted for 30 homes in Oak Flat, 8/19/02.

Damage: 4 residences and 8 outbuildings.

On scene: 5,407 firefighters, including 700 Army personnel from Fort Bragg, N.C.

Cause: Lightning.

APPLE

Started: 21 miles east of Glide, 8/16/02

Size: 7,400 acres

Containment: 15 percent.

Evacuations: Three campgrounds evacuated. Umpqua Trail closed and portions of North Umpqua River closed to whitewater rafting.

Damage: None.

On Scene: 833 firefighters.

Cause: Under investigation.

TILLER COMPLEX

Started: Outside Tiller, east of Canyonville off Interstate 5, 07/12/02.

Size: 62,200 acres.

Containment: 65 percent.

Evacuations: South Umpqua Road closed at milepost 6. Fifteen residences threatened. Tribal ceremonial grounds and critical cultural resources are threatened.

Damage: No listed damage.

On scene: 1,882 firefighters

Cause: Lightning.

SIUSLAW RIVER

Started: 15 miles southwest of Veneta, 8/17/02

Size: 840 acres

Containment: 100 percent.

Evacuations: None.

Damage: None.

On Scene: 795 firefighters.

Cause: Under investigation.

LAVA

Started: 15 miles northwest of Christmas, 8/18/02

Size: 2,680 acres.

Containment: 35 percent

Evacuations: None

Damage: None

On Scene: 27 firefighters

Cause: Lightning

Thanks for the ping.

M2
Any chance you'll make it to Seiad Valley tomorrow?

Those of you who detest the vile Watermelon Green Jihadists, now have an opportunity to do something beside complain about them. Go to this link and then join us: (Here we go folks. Our anonymous FR benefactor has kicked in $870 to get our Medford / Central Point Bulletin Board up! Imagine it....some dirty little green watermelon driving north after a long hard day filled with protesting and what's that up ahead? Why it's a Advertising Bill Board that reads...)Go to the link and enjoy!

Yes. I will be there!

YEAR 2002 SATELLITE IMAGES

Images for the year 2002 are organized by month. Select the month to view!

August 2002 Images

Here is the latest Cumulative Burn Map. It show all the fire burn areas in the Western US.

Cumulative Burn Map click here: Western United States, August 22, 2002